Doing It Right
by JABhp
Summary: Severus has been given the chance to go back and do it right this time. He will not become a Death Eater and he will save as many people as he possibly can. Possible future Slash.
1. The Time Reaper

**Disclaimer: I am just playing in JK's sandbox, I do not own the characters and locations that you recognise.**

Death was not an abstract concept to Severus Snape. In truth, he had thought about it near every day since he had sold his servitude to become a Death Eater. But somehow, when it came he felt unprepared for his next great adventure. As the light dimmed from his eyes and he succumbed to the snake's poison, he fell out of existence and into the void.

His descent was halted by a soft armchair, sitting in front of a broad desk. Confusion flitted across his face, before he pushed it behind his carefully constructed mask. In front of him sat a robed figure with indistinguishable features, seemingly peering at him with interest.

"Where am I? Who are you? I thought I was dead."

A dry chuckle rattled out of the robed figure.

"This is the afterlife. I am a personification of death. And you are dead."

Severus sat back with more confusion. All of his beliefs had been rocked to the core. While part of him had longed for the hope to meet Lily again in the next life, he had also believed that death was the end and nothing was going to be waiting for anyone after their last breath.

"What do you mean 'a' personification of death?" he grasped onto the statement as he tried to cope with this new existence.

"Ah, well there are too many deaths for there to only be one figure addressing each person as they move on. There is the main one, called the Grim Reaper, but the most of us are lowly Reapers handling the easy cases. I am the Time Reaper."

The Time Reaper sat forward, waiting for Severus to notice something. Fighting through the fog of confusion, Severus latched onto his title with interest.

"Is there any particular reason why I am before the Time Reaper?"

"Good, you figured it out quickly. I was told you would be able to understand the enormity of the chance you are going to be handed. You, Severus, were never meant to be a Death Eater. Instead you were meant to take up custody of Harry James Potter and prevent the horrible injustices inflicted on the Longbottoms and Sirius Black."

If he understood it correctly, he was going to have to go back in time and live it all over again. Plus if he was to get custody of Potter, than that meant he would have to live through Lily's death all over again. Holding his head in his hands, he cringed at the thought of what he was being coerced into.

"You will be given a chance to see Lily before you leave. We need to plan exactly how we are going to do this. You need to be placed at the exact right time to change things correctly. This will not be an easy task."

"I get to see Lily?" It seemed almost too good to be true.

"Of course. Without her, how would we be able to fix all of your messy mistakes?"

A guttural laugh emitted from the folds of the Time Reaper's robes. The statement calmed his worries. After all, seeing Lily would be worth it, even if he had to live his life five times over.

The Time Reaper stood and gestured out the door for Severus to follow, as they strode towards Severus' dreams and nightmares combined. It was time to face Lily.

 **A/N: Please let me know if you like the general direction of this story. I plan on writing a time travel piece with Severus as the main character.**


	2. Reunion

**Disclaimer: I am just playing in JK's sandbox, I do not own the characters and locations that you recognise.**

Severus walked after the Time Reaper, his emotions swimming close to the surface. Part of him was terrified to see Lily again because it meant he really needed to go back. Part was excited to see the woman he had loved. The rest of him was nervous about the reception he was bound to receive.

They walked through a door painted with flowers and found themselves in the midst of a garden. Up ahead sat the red head that had Severus feeling trepidation.

"Sev! You're finally here! Good, we can fix it all."

The cheer in her voice shocked Severus down to his core. He was expecting to be gutted for daring to hate her son.

"Oh Sev, it's okay. I've been here for so long and I've known how wrong it all went from the start. Dumbledore didn't help your feelings for Harry either, what with delighting in any antagonism from you towards Harry. Apparently he thought Harry needed some toughening up."

Lily stopped her tirade with a frustrated sigh. Everything was becoming more fantastical by the second. Then he clicked onto the fact that he had been manipulated and used by Dumbledore, probably from the very start.

"Lily-"

He faltered, unable to voice everything in his head. Regret at the forefront of his mind. Could he have an aneurysm and die a second time?

"I understand. Let's not live in the past, but plan the future… of the past."

Falling into girly giggles, Lily finally cracked through Severus' mask and the start of a smile met his lips briefly. More of a twitch than a true facial expression. Exactly how he had been back when they were friends.

"Okay, let us sit and figure out _when_ to send Severus."

The Time Reaper led the two old friends to a table and chairs set up in the centre of the splendid garden. Seating themselves, the humans faced the reaper grimly.

"There are a few facts that I need to bring out first. The first day that you met Lily and you scared off Petunia, you inadvertently caused her magic to regress inside her. You weren't to know, but the main reason Petunia was so antagonistic towards Harry was her magic's hatred for having to be hidden."

"What? Tuney had magic? But that's impossible!"

"Lily, you have been here long enough to know that we reapers are unable to directly lie to a human. Your sister was meant to get her own letter before you. In fact, she had already had some accidental magic. You never saw it, but she had often vanished broccoli to get dessert sooner."

"Ha, that is so like her. Okay, so what, Sev goes back to that day and is nice instead?"

The Time Reaper smiled in a predatory fashion at the two of them leaning forward in anticipation.

"Actually we are going to have him go back a little sooner, to extract a soul that should have died many years before he actually did. Don't look so upset Severus, you won't have a stain on your soul at all. All you have to do is duck as soon as you are sent back. But before you leave, what do you know about Horcruxes?"

 **A/N: Finished on a bit of a cliffhanger, but the point is Severus knows about the horcruxes and other planning happens behind the scenes. Next chapter will be Severus waking up back at the appointed time.**

Harry etihe


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